Sunday, 3 March 2013

A Man And His Dog

It was a nice sunny day
and a man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the
scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered
dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for many years, so he
wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the
road. The wall looked like fine marble and at the top of a long hill the wall was
broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When the man and his dog
were standing before the arch he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked
like it was made from mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate
looked like pure gold. The man and his dog walked toward the gate and as they
got closer, he saw a man at a desk located to one side.

When he was close enough, the man with the dog called out,

'Excuse me, where are
we?'

'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.

'Would you happen to have some water?' the
man asked.

Of course sir, come right in, and I will have some ice water brought right away.
'The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the
way he had been going with his dog. After another long walk, and at the top of
another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading to a farm gate that looked as
if it had never been closed. As he approached the gate, he saw there were no
fences but spied a man inside leaning against a tree and reading a book.

'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Yeah, sure, there is a pump over there, come on in and take your fill.'

'How about my friend here?' the traveller gestured to the dog..

'There should be a bowl by the pump.'

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand
pump with a bowl beside it. The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long
drink himself, then he gave some water to his dog. When they had both quenched
their thirst, the man and his dog walked back toward the man who was standing
by the tree.

'What do you call this place?' the traveller asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'Well, that is confusing,' the traveller said.

'The man down the road
said that was Heaven too.'

'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates?

They call it heaven but
it is really hell.'

'Does not that make you mad them using your name like that?'

'No, we are just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their
best friends behind.'